He Wants Me Dead Or Alive 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 61 - 챕터 70

Rosa POVI wasn't snooping. That was the first thing I told myself when my hand found the box in his drawer, the same drawer I had opened weeks ago, the same drawer I had told myself I wouldn't open again. I was looking for a phone charger because my phone was dying and his office had the only outlet that worked and I had already checked the desk twice and the drawers were the last place I looked.The box was old, velvet, worn at the corners like someone had held it many times over many years. It was not the same box I had found before. That box was new, velvety smooth, the kind of box a jeweler gave you when you bought something expensive. This box was different. This box had been opened and closed and opened again, handled and carried and passed from one person to another.I opened it before I thought about what I was doing.Rose gold. Elegant. Not new. A ring that had belonged to someone else, worn by someone else, maybe loved by someone else. The band was thin and the stone was sm

Rosa POVThe medal was still around my neck when we walked through the door of the penthouse. I had worn it on the drive home and in the elevator and I hadn't taken it off because I wanted to feel it against my chest, because I wanted to remember this night for as long as I lived.I turned around in the entrance and I kissed him before the door finished closing behind us.He kissed me back and his hands were on my waist and he walked me backward down the hallway without breaking the kiss. My back hit the wall and I laughed against his mouth because I was happy, because I had just won nationals, because the man I loved was pressing me against the wall and I could feel his heart beating as fast as mine."What?" he said against my neck."Nothing. I'm just happy.""Good."He kissed me again and I stopped laughing because laughing turned into something else and we didn't make it to the bedroom right away because his hands were under my shirt and my hands were in his hair and we were both s

Rosa POVThe lockdown started the morning after he told me about the Moretti attack. I woke up and he was already awake and dressed and he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at me with that face he made when he was about to tell me something I wasn't going to like."You're not leaving the building today," he said.I looked at him and I didn't argue. I didn't ask how long or why or any of the questions I would have asked two months ago. I just nodded and sat up and pulled my hair back and said okay.He looked at me for a second longer than necessary, like he was waiting for the fight, like he didn't quite believe I wasn't going to give him one."That's it?" he said."That's it.""You're not going to tell me I'm being controlling or unreasonable or that I can't lock you in like a prisoner?""I could," I said. "But I'd be wrong. You're not locking me in like a prisoner. You're locking me in because people attacked your men and sent a message demanding my release and you're trying to k

Rosa POVI waited until the building was quiet.The calls had been made and the cleanup was handled and Klaus had come and gone with reports I didn't ask to hear. Raffaele had spent the evening in his office with the door closed and I had spent the evening in the kitchen pretending to read a book and trying not to think about the blood on his shirt.At midnight I walked to his room.He was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had changed his shirt and the bandage was fresh and his face was tired in a way that made my chest ache. He looked up when I opened the door and his eyes were dark and steady and he didn't look surprised to see me.I closed the door behind me and I leaned against it and I looked at him."I need you to be here," I said.He didn't ask what I meant. He didn't ask me to explain. He just looked at me with those dark eyes and said, "I'm here."I crossed the room and I didn't stop until I was standing in front of him. I put my hands on his face and I looked at him and I l

Raffaele's POV The Moretti had inside information about my schedule. They knew when I would be leaving the building on the night of the attack. They knew which route my car would take. They knew where my security would be positioned. That was not luck. That was not guesswork. That was someone inside my operation feeding them details.The audit took four days.I turned over every person who had access to my calendar, every driver, every security detail, every staff member who came and went from the building. Klaus handled the interviews. I handled the phone records and the bank accounts and the digital trails that people always thought were invisible.The leak was a man who had been with me for eleven years. He was quiet and efficient and unmemorable, the kind of person you forgot was in the room, which was exactly why he had been useful to the Moretti. He had a sick child and a mountain of medical bills and the Moretti had put money in his account and he had told them everything.I s